astronomy

Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array

Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array rather than just read about it. In short: Two instruments known as the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array, or SCUBA, have been used for detecting submillimetre radiation on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii. SCUBA-1 The older continuum single pixel UKT14 bolometer receiver was replaced in the 1990s by the Submillimeter Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA).

Key takeaways

Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Two instruments known as the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array, or SCUBA, have been used for detecting submillimetre radiation on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii.

SCUBA-1 The older continuum single pixel UKT14 bolometer receiver was replaced in the 1990s by the Submillimeter Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA). The SCUBA project was green-lighted in 1987 by the JCMT board and was in development for nearly a decade before it saw first light on the telescope. While it was not the first bolometer array it was "unique in combining an unparallel sensitivity with an extensive wavelength range and field-of-view".

SCUBA operated simultaneously at wavelengths of 450 and 850 micron (with 91 and 37 pixels, respectively), and was sensitive to the thermal emission from interstellar dust. SCUBA is ranked second only to the Hubble Space Telescope in terms of publication of high-impact astronomical research. SCUBA was retired from service in 2005, and it is now in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

SCUBA-2 SCUBA-2, another continuum instrument, was commissioned in 2011. This ground-breaking camera consists of large arrays of superconducting transition edge sensors with a mapping speed hundreds of times larger than SCUBA. It has 5120 array elements at both 450 and 850 micron wavelength (10,240 total pixels). It has been conducting the JCMT legacy surveys since November, 2011, including the SCUBA-2 All Sky Survey, and was made available for general astronomical observations in February, 2012. Two ancillary instruments, FTS-2 and POL-2, add spectroscopic and polarimetric capabilities to SCUBA-2.

SCUBA-2 All Sky Survey The SCUBA-2 All-Sky Survey (SASSy), is an astronomical survey using the SCUBA-2 camera to map the sky at submillimeter wavelengths (850 μm). It is most sensitive to very cold gas and dust. The survey started in 2011. A team of around 50 astronomers from the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Netherlands, and Japan aim to map a huge swathe of the sky to find rare galaxies and stars being formed. The survey will achieve an angular resolution of 14 arcseconds, 1800 times more detailed than the best previous full-sky map in the sub-mm from COBE, which had only 7° angular resolution (25200 arcseconds). Despite its name, the project will not be able to map the southernmost areas of the sky that are not visible from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii. SASSy is one of the major "legacy surveys" on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. It is the second-largest such legacy survey in terms of time on this telescope, and in terms of notional facility time is "worth" over £1 million. The project seeks to answer the following questions:

Is there an undiscovered population of extreme luminosity galaxies? What are the number counts of bright sub-mm galaxies? What is the fraction of lens sub-mm sources? Is there an undiscovered population of cold local galaxies? How many infrared dark clouds are there in our Galaxy and how are they distributed? What is the relation of infrared dark clouds to star formation and Galactic structure? Is there an underlying unknown population of star formation? What is the fraction of clustered vs. isolated star formation? What is the answer to the distributed T-Tauri problem? This project will also assist in the foreground subtraction and calibration of the Planck microwave background satellite. The project was led initially by Dr. Mark Thompson and Dr. Stephen Serjeant (University of Hertfordshire and Open University respectively), now expanded to a four-person co-ordinating team with the addition of Dr. Tim Jenness and Prof. Douglas Scott (Joint Astronomy Centre, Hawaii, and University of British Columbia respectively). The collaboration includes Cardiff University, UK; European Space Agency; Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics / NRC, Canada; Imperial College London, UK; Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Japan; Joint Astronomy Centre, Hawaii, USA; Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, The Netherlands; Keele University, UK; Liverpool John Moores University, UK; Open University, UK; Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK; SRON, The Netherlands; UK Astronomy Technology Centre, UK; Université Laval, Canada; University College London, UK; University of British Columbia, Canada; University of Cambridge, UK; University of Edinburgh, UK; University of Exeter, UK; University of Hertfordshire, UK; University of Kent, UK; University of St Andrews, UK; University of Waterloo, Canada

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array

In research: Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Astronomical observatories in Hawaii, Astronomical surveys, Submillimetre telescopes, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array in simple terms?

Two instruments known as the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array, or SCUBA, have been used for detecting submillimetre radiation on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii. SCUBA-1 The older continuum single pixel UKT14 bolometer receiver was replaced in the 1990s by the Submillimeter Com…

Why does Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array.